Abstract

Footnotes (199)

Using the URL or DOI link below will
ensure access to this page indefinitely

Based on your IP address, your paper is being delivered by:

New York, USA

Processing request.

Illinois, USA

Processing request.

Brussels, Belgium

Processing request.

Seoul, Korea

Processing request.

California, USA

Processing request.

If you have any problems downloading this paper,please click on another Download Location above, or view our FAQFile name: SSRN-id1439837. ; Size: 602K

You will receive a perfect bound, 8.5 x 11 inch, black and white printed copy of this PDF document with a glossy color cover. Currently shipping to U.S. addresses only. Your order will ship within 3 business days. For more details, view our FAQ.

Quantity:Total Price = $9.99 plus shipping (U.S. Only)

If you have any problems with this purchase, please contact us for assistance by email: Support@SSRN.com or by phone: 877-SSRNHelp (877 777 6435) in the United States, or +1 585 442 8170 outside of the United States. We are open Monday through Friday between the hours of 8:30AM and 6:00PM, United States Eastern.

Presidential Inability and Subjective Meaning

The Twenty-Fifth Amendment allows the President to be separated from his constitutional powers and duties when either he himself (under Section 3) or the Vice President and a majority of his Cabinet (under Section 4) declare that the President is "unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office." If the same meaning were attributed to both inability provisions, Section 4 would create a power of removal more expansive than the impeachment clause, and it would undermine the continuity of the Executive branch that the Amendment was designed to safeguard. This Note contends, to the contrary, that although the "unable to discharge" phrase appears identically in both sections, it embraces a more inclusive set of impairments when the President declares his own inability than when the diagnosis is made by the Vice President and Cabinet. This is because the legal meaning of Section 3 is conditioned upon its construction by the President, as the sole constitutional actor involved in this unreviewable decision. The Amendment's structure, legislative history, and application history all confirm that presidential inability should be understood differently depending on which constitutional actor makes the evaluation.